Remember the kid who murdered his parents and then pleaded for leniency because he was an orphan? He used to be the very definition of chutzpah, but he has lost his spot in the dictionary to an even more audacious victim: The Council on American-Islamic Relations.

The Washington-based CAIR is perhaps the most important and vocal Islamic group in the country. Twice in the past two weeks, its representatives have met with President Bush. This is part of the ongoing White House effort to assure the public that the vast majority of Arabs and Muslims in the country do not support terrorism and are on the American side in the fight against it.

But as the President once famously observed, a man can be judged by the company he keeps. And CAIR is bad company.

There is no need to present a litany of CAIR's odd takes on what constitutes justice. One example will do. According to Jake Tapper of the online magazine Salon, CAIR has labeled the conviction of Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman (for conspiring to blow up New York City landmarks, including the Lincoln and Holland tunnels in 1995) as a "hate crime" against Muslims.

Not the Easter Bunny

CAIR is also in bed with at least two philanthropic groups suspected of being fronts for one of the Middle East's most lethally anti-American, anti-Jewish jihadists: Palestinian Hamas.

Ibrahim Hooper, the spokesman for the CAIR, has nothing bad to say about Hamas, but he denies a connection. "We do not support Hamas," he says. "We don't support the Easter Bunny, either."

Neither the Easter Bunny nor Hamas is mentioned on the CAIR Web site, which features a statement that is a study in evasion. It regrets the "massive loss of life resulting from the tragic events of Sept. 11" and says that "American Muslims unequivocally condemn these vicious and cowardly acts."

But nowhere will you find the name Osama Bin Laden or any acknowledgment that the "vicious and cowardly acts" were carried out in the name of Islamic holy war and applauded by Hamas and other Palestinian and Iraqi outfits.

On the other hand, the CAIR is very specific about how the public should respond to the attacks on America: Send money. It recommends contributing to three organizations  the Red Cross, the Holy Land Foundation and the Global Relief Foundation.

Loss of Status

The Holy Land Foundation, located in Richardson, Tex., claims to be a charitable group, but there is some doubt about its real activities. In June 2000, the U.S. government registered it as a private agency eligible to receive federal aid for its humanitarian efforts. Less than three months later, Washington rescinded that status for reasons of "national defense."

The Global Relief Foundation, located in Bridge View, Ill., has been accused by Israel and American security experts of funneling money and support to Hamas. Like the Holy Land Foundation, it is currently under intense federal scrutiny.

CAIR is untroubled by these investigations. In fact, it regards these two organizations as victims of persecution. "There's been a campaign to shut them down for years," Hooper says. "You tell me if they are legal American organizations."

They are. For now.

Bush is right to insist that not every Islamic and Arab group supports holy warriors such as Hamas. But, as his staff ought to know by now, some have, and still do.

It will be deeply embarrassing to the President  and devastating to his pleas for tolerance  if it emerges that he has been the unwitting host of longtime apologists and fund-raisers for the same terrorists he is fighting.

"the unwitting host of longtime apologists and fund-raisers for the same terrorists he is fighting."

Which is exactly the charge made against media, and government by one leading Islamic organization as far back as 1999 - posted right here on FR.

The same man made the charge then that 80 percent of the leadership in their places of worship were Wahhabis... but that those who worship in those places are not followers of Wahhabism... that fanaticism that is the declared enemy of our country. Interestingly the State Department ignored their own findings back then, and we know what that led to.

Daniel Pipes of the Middle East Forum said basically the same thing last night when he was interviewed on Fox news by Brit Hume. CAIR and the other organizations the President was seen with at the Washington mosque all have a shady side to them.

"Bush is right to insist that not every Islamic and Arab group supports holy warriors such as Hamas. But, as his staff ought to know by now, some have, and still do."

I think Bush and his team are well aware of CAIR's connections and political biases. By going right into their lair Bush has effectively neutralized their ability to mobilize Islamic public opinion in this country against him. The old saying.."keep your enemies close.."

"Zev Chafets was born in Pontiac, Michigan, and moved to Israel in 1967. After active military service in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, he rose to the leadership of the Israeli Government Press Office under Menachim Begin. He is the author of several highly praised works of fiction and nonfiction. Currently a columnist for the Jerusalem Report, he is married to the journalist Lisa Beyer. They live with their children in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem."

"A nation can survive its fools and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and he carries his banners openly against the city. But the traitor moves among those within the gates freely, his sly whispers rustling through all alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears no traitor; he speaks in the accents familiar to his victim, and he wears their face and their garments and he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation; he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of a city; he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to be feared. The traitor is the plague."

Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.